Fitting in Fitness

So, one of the things that deters most of us from fitting in fitness is finding time to, well, fit it in with all of our other responsibilities.  Especially if you are a mom of young children, like I am, it can be even harder!  I can't leave the house just yet to go for a run and leave them there, unless my husband is home to watch them.  And I sometimes feel guilty leaving them when he does get home, because then I'm missing out on spending family time together.  So how do I solve this?  Make it a family fitness time together!  Sometimes if I can get all 5 members of my family out the door (which is a challenge in of itself) then we can enjoy some family fitness time.  We try to make it fun!  Some ride scooters, some ride their bike, some walk . . . some run. 

 Although I don't ever get in as hard of a workout if my whole family comes along, at least it's time well spent together where everyone benefits.  I've also been known to include my kids in my DVD workouts too.  They joined me for one of my PiYo workouts just the other day and were happy and excited about doing it with me.  If you make it sound fun, they will have fun too, and think of the great example of being healthy and fit you are setting for them too!  

And for those times when you actually do get to work out alone, enjoy it!  If your hubby gives you a break to go for a run and he watches the kids, which mine often does because he's an awesome hubby & dad, then go for it!  Don't guilt yourself for getting some time to yourself.  I find I can always be a better mom and wife when I have a chance to recharge and feel good about myself.  Sometimes I just go into the bedroom and get on my treadmill for some time alone to workout too.  

So, the next time you're feeling pressed for time, and can't figure out fitting in your fitness, take the family or kids along with you!  You'll be happy you did!

The Most Important Thing I Want My Kids to Know About My Health Journey

Thank you to everyone who has visited my blog lately and read my posts about my recent sugar detox!  I posted before and after pics of myself on my last post and I just wanted to follow up a little about that.  For one thing, that took a lot of bravery on my part to post those.  I didn't post them to say, hey look at me and how great I look!  Although I do appreciate all the nice comments and encouragement I did get from people saying I looked great, it really did encourage me.  But I posted them to show just that change can happen in even a short amount of time, if you give your body good things and real things to eat.  That's basically what this sugar detox was for me . . . a cleansing of all the sugar and processed foods my body had been used to, and a start at a healthier lifestyle eating real food!  Not only did change happen on the outside of my body, but change happened on the inside too.  I really do FEEL so much better in so many ways!  I cannot say that enough.  I don't feel as sluggish and weighed down all over like I did before.  Now granted, I have been working on being a fairly healthy person for a long time . . . I almost always exercise in some way, shape or form each week.  But my eating wasn't what it should be.  I really, really, REALLY loved sweets and things that were bad for me.  I guess I never realized how much harm it really was doing to my body.  I kept an extra 10-15 lbs on me most of the time that I really wanted off, but just hadn't committed to deciding about eating the right way, until the detox.     Now, that the detox is over everyone is asking me what am I going to do now?  Well, the truth is, not a whole lot of different things than what I was doing during the detox.  I've learned that I can continue eating this way as a lifestyle.  It's not a diet that I just did for a little while and then am going to go back to my old ways.  I worked too hard to throw that all away!  I feel that this new way of eating clean is something that is so do-able and there are so many good options of things to eat.  Not having my own sugar addiction (and that's really what it was, an addiction) hanging over me is so freeing!  Instead of searching for sweet things to eat at night, I have a lot more energy to do other things . . . like blog more :-), work on my photography, read, do fun things with my kids and husband, and just enjoy life more!     One of my favorite things my husband said to me during the detox time is that he told me how great I was looking on the outside and how proud he was of me for sticking with it, but the best change he had seen is how happy and positive I have been on the inside.  And that is really true!  I have felt so much better mentally too!  I'm not saying I haven't had stressful or sad days, because I have, but I didn't feel the need to drown my sorrows and stress into a bowl of ice cream . . . that happened a lot before.  I'm not perfect and I'm sure I will allow myself to indulge and enjoy a sweet treat every once in a while, but I really don't want to go back to my old way of eating, so it will just be every once in a while.     Now, finally to the title of this post . . . the most important thing I want my kids (and husband and other family and friends) to know about my health journey is that it is a journey . . . and it is a HEALTH JOURNEY.  Even though I posted before and after pics, I don't want the focus to be on that.  I've always been very careful when talking to my kids about not saying "I'm fat, or I'm overweight, etc"  And during this detox and health journey, I've focused on talking to them about the fact that I'm trying to eat more healthy so I can feel good and have more energy, which is really my main motivation.  I've also told them that we are trying as a family to be more healthy overall.  Do I think that all the processed snacks in my home will all go away?  Most likely not, realistically.  But I can steer our kids in the right direction of making healthy choices.  We've already made a few around our house that have gone over better than I thought . . . we limit their juice intake.  We have always limited sodas to mostly just once a week when we eat out, and most of the time make them choose non caffeinated ones.  But at home they were used to drinking juice most of the time, it was always half water/half juice, which we still do, but now we've limited them to just having one glass full of juice at meal times (so 3 times a day).  Any other time they want something to drink they have to get water.  We've always had them drink water after and during their sports games, but didn't drink it a lot while at home.  They've adjusted, although not without a little complaining, but they did adjust.  That's just one simple thing we've done.  I'm also trying to make it a rule that they at least try the healthy meal I've made with some of the new recipes I'm making.  And they do!  So, I don't have it all figured out yet about how to change my whole family over to my new way of eating, and not sure if I ever will.  But even small changes make a difference.  And through it all, I hope they will see that this is a health journey and I hope they will be inspired to live a healthy life too from following my example.     And lastly, there are many things to a person, including myself . . . right now I'm choosing to focus a lot on this health journey, because it is taking a lot of my focus and energy.  But I haven't stopped having other goals that I need to work on, just because I'm mostly blogging about this right now.  I am still going through the "Wife After God" devotional (although I am not as consistent as I should be), and I am still trying to follow along with the parenting study we are doing in our adult life group at church called "Parenting with Love and Logic,"  from the book by Foster Cline and Jim Fay.  Oh, and still working outside the home at my accounting job 22-24 hrs/week too, being a wife, being a mom, and everything else!  We all have tons of hats to juggle and roles to play in our every days lives, and most of the time if you're like me, you don't ever feel like you have enough time or energy to get to everything you want to . . . but we have to just keep doing the best we can, a little at a time.  And I hope my kids also see that you can be healthy and make changes for the better, even amidst all this chaos we call LIFE!  Oh and not to forget to have some fun too!  

Here we are all enjoying a Greenville Drive baseball game last night!  I love my family! :-)   

Why I Decided to do a 14 Day Sugar Detox

So, if you're friends with me on facebook then you've probably seen a couple of my posts about going on a sugar free, carb free, gluten free, dairy free detox for 14 days.  I decided to blog about my journey, because it always helps me to process things when I write/type them.  Plus, maybe it will help someone else.   Disclaimer - I am not a health expert, just someone trying to learn how to live a healthy lifestyle in a busy world!  Please consult a health professional for your specific health situation.
First, a little background as to why and how I'm doing this.  I started following a mom's facebook page called https://www.facebook.com/HausOfGirlsFitFamily  probably about 9 months to a year ago, after one of my running friends told me about one of the challenges she was doing for a certain amount of miles in a certain month.  I enjoyed seeing her fitness tips and she was inspiring to me . . . a busy mom just like me with 3 children, staying fit and healthy.  Just recently, I began to see all of her posts about eating more clean and all the benefits it was providing her and her family.  I then began to check out her and her 3 other sisters' website that they have together called http://www.fourfitsisters.com  It turns out all 4 sisters are moms and are inspiring and have some great ideas!  They each are coaches for beachbody.com and run challenges in which you focus on a specific thing, whether it be a nutrional goal, a fitness goal, or both and if you sign up and join the challenge (most cost a fee), then you are placed in a secret facebook group where you receive the sisters' coaching and instruction and given information on how to go about making the healthy lifestyle change.  I decided to join the 14 day sugar detox challenge that Marta is having for a few reasons.   My reasons for doing this 14 day sugar detox:   1.  If I pay for it, I usually will stick to it.  This particular challenge cost me a small amount, but so far, it's more than worth it!   2.  I know that I have always loved sweets and bread - sugar and carbs - and I know I need to cut back on them.  They have always been my "comfort" food to go to when I am emotionally eating (which I sometimes do when worried or stressed, and not feeling so in control of myself).   3.  I always feel tired and run down.  For as long as I can remember, probably starting in late high school/early college, I am just ALWAYS tired.  Not just a little tired.  But exhausted tired.  Despite eating what I think is fairly healthy and proper portion control and exercising regularly, I still feel tired.  I wake up tired.  I stay tired all day.  I go to sleep tired.    4.  I have gained a lot more weight than I would like over the past year or two.  Two years ago, when my daughter was only 1, I went on "The Game" diet which was a challenge with friends that was based on a book called "The Game" I think where you basically played a game with others and kept points for doing certain things.  I never read the book, but just got all the requirements from the people running the challenge.  Sometimes we contributed $5-$10 to play, sometimes we contributed $20 to play.  Whoever won the challenge with the most points got the cash pool that everyone had contributed to in order to play.  The basis of this game was good in a way.  It taught portion control - there was so much of a carb, protein, & fat that you were to have each meal, and you were supposed to have 5 small meals a day, with a 100 calorie snack optional.  Also there were other requirements to better yourself, such as drinking 3 liters of water a day, and doing some sort of exercise daily for 20 minutes to get your points.  You also had to choose good habits to start and bad habits to break.  So, overall this game was good for me and my husband, who played too, and we both lost 10-15 lbs at the time.  He may have lost close to 20.  I think we both played about 3 times over the past year and a half, but the only time we really significantly saw change was the first time we played.  And slowly but surely the weight crept back on both of us.  So . . . long description to say, I know I can change my eating, but have to get back to it.  There are some things from the game diet that I still usually do, like drink almost 3 liters most days of water, and exercise most every day for at least 20 minutes.  But even throughout the game I was still feeling tired.  So, I am interested to see if cutting carbs, dairy, & gluten will help me to feel better overall and lose the weight I need to and want to lose.   5.  I had gestational diabetes with my 3rd pregnancy, and I'm supposed to be more at risk to develop diabetes because of it.  I actually have a physical coming up the beginning of July, and will have my blood/glucose levels tested, and quite frankly I was beginning to be concerned that I might test positive for being diabetic or pre-diabetic with all the sugar and carbs in my diet.  So, I am also making this change for my overall health and future health.   So, that is the background and reasons why and how I'm doing this sugar detox.  After the 14 days, I am hoping that I will have learned some new ways to eat, and that hopefully I will feel and be healthier.  I have been digesting all the information that my coach, Marta, is giving us in the group for the past week, and have made some small changes in my diet and already lost about 4 lbs this first week, just with making SOME of the changes.  I will talk about some of the changes I've made so far in my next post, even before officially starting the detox (we start this Wednesday, in 3 more days).  I also have already felt a little more energy, honestly even in the past few days.  I hope some of my readers will follow along with me on this journey!   (re-posted from another blog of mine . . . June 25 - July 8, 2014 I did this detox . . . be sure to check out my other posts to see how it went!)